The News Line: FeatureThursday, 25 August 2005GADAFFI – SWINGING TO THE RIGHTTHE swing to the right by the Libyan regime, led by Colonel Gadaffi, is now taking place at breakneck speed.

The man who once armed the IRA, and sought to avoid the evils of capitalism as far as Libya’s development was concerned, has decided that since he was unable to beat them, and in the light of the undermining of the USSR by the Stalinist bureaucracy, he had better join them.

Colonel Muammar Gadaffi’s son, Sayf-al-Islam Gadaffi said Tuesday that the US will open an embassy in Tripoli within days, and that Libya will be removed from the US list of states sponsoring terrorism by the year’s end.

‘The Libyan and American flags will be raised in Tripoli and Washington within the coming days,’ Sayf-al-Islam said.

Meanwhile the Colonel, once denounced by the West as a mad revolutionary, has announced that he has invited President Bush to visit Libya.

The Libyan leader’s son also announced that plans have been drawn up to release members of the Muslim Brotherhood who were previously arrested for having violated Libyan laws.

The brotherhood has long opposed the Libyan revolution and is believed to have sought to kill Gadaffi on a number of occasions.

The brotherhood will be delighted that they will now be able to undermine the position of the Gadaffi regime and work to wipe out the social gains of the Libyan people at close range.

Gadaffi and his son Sayf-al-Islam have gone to extraordinary lengths to get the Muslim Brotherhood to return to Libya.

Sayf declared that a dialogue has been conducted for two months with jailed members of extremist Islamic organisations.

He said that the dialogue had achieved tangible results, resulting with numerous members of these organisations changing their mind.

He disclosed that hundreds of Libyan exiles had returned to Libya and that plans had been made to return to Libyans their property that was previously confiscated.

He called for reopening the files of executions and liquidations that took place in ‘illegal tribunals’ and for compensating the relatives of the victims materially and morally.

At a ceremony held in Tripoli Monday morning for reviewing a report on the activities of the Gadaffi International Foundation for Charity Associations, which he heads, Sayf-al-Islam said that it acted to fulfil Muammar Gadaffi’s call for looking into the situation of prisons and prisoners in Libya.

He noted that the foundation carried out a comprehensive survey of jails and prepared a detailed report on prisons and prisoners.

It also helped bring about the release of prisoners of conscience in Libya with the exception of the Muslim Brotherhood members who admitted to having committed acts that the Libyan law forbids.

Sayf-al-Islam added that the foundation had prepared a detailed report on the Muslim Brotherhood prisoners and submitted it to the relevant authorities.

He noted that the report called for reconsidering the situation of these prisoners and re-trying them according to the new developments in the country, taking into account the fact that they had changed their convictions and views.

He pointed out that certain circumstances might have prompted them to work underground in the past, circumstances that no longer existed.

Sayf-al-Islam added that a dialogue had been under way for two months with jailed members of the Libyan extremist groups who believe in violence as a means to change society, and that the dialogue had so far led many members of this group to change their views and convictions.

He said they were now convinced that dialogue and democracy are the means to achieve change.
Noting that the dialogue was continuing, he said that we would look into the situation of every jailed member who proves to have changed his ideas and who believes in dialogue and democracy as a means for change.

Sayf-al-Islam called for reopening the files of executions and liquidations that had previously taken place against Libyans according to sentences passed by ‘illegal tribunals’, such as the revolutionary courts and people’s tribunals.

He said: ‘Murder is a crime whether it takes place in the street or in illegal tribunals.

‘I believe that the time is now opportune for reopening the files of old executions to achieve social reconciliation, compensate the affected people materially and morally, rehabilitate those who suffered damage as a result of these tribunals, and heal their wounds.’

Sayf-al-Islam said that early in September, an initiative would be declared for compensating the Libyans whose financial assets and properties were confiscated during the era of socialism, including the Libyans who left the country.

He urged the Libyan nationals who left the country to return to Libya to recover their property and financial assets, and to receive compensation for what they had lost.

He pointed out that the Gadaffi Charity Foundation was the first to call for compensating the Libyans whose financial assets and property were confiscated in the past, and for ‘righting the wrongs they have suffered because we now live in a different society and different circumstances’.

Sayf-al-Islam pointed out that the Gadaffi foundation had studied the situation of Libyan expatriates, of whom 787 returned to Libya, including 304 who returned through this foundation, which ‘is still deploying efforts to bring about the voluntary return of all Libyan expatriates to their country’.

He announced the formation of a body combining the non-governmental civil society organisations in the Arab countries to serve as ‘a forum for enhancing liberties and democracy in the Arab homeland, and as a voice for those who were denied the opportunity to express their views.’

Gadaffi’s decision to reconcile with the Libyan counter-revolutionaries in order to satisfy the political requirements of the United States is certain to bring class relations in Libya to boiling point, since the Libyan masses are determined not to give up the gains that they achieved in the period after the abolition of the monarchy, under Libyan ‘Socialism’.